Lando Norris has defended McLaren's decision to start the Canadian Grand Prix on Intermediate tyres.

Other than the Woking pair, the Audis, Cadillacs and Carlos Sainz also opted for the green banded-rubber, despite the fact that many more drivers had complained of the track being slippery while making their way to the grid.

Though the track was damp following previous showers, there remained some slight drizzle, however the strong winds were drying it, and as the cars headed off on the formation lap Oscar Piastri was already questioning the decision and recommending that he pit for slicks.

While Norris took full advantage of his superior grip to take the lead as the field headed into Turn 1, it was obvious that his tyres would only be good for a couple of laps at most.

In fact, the 2025 world champion stopped at the end of the second lap, rejoining in 13th, but was immediately passed by Alex Albon.

Teammate Oscar Piastri had pitted at the end of the opening lap, rejoining in last position, and after just two laps it was clear that the Woking team's strategy had been disastrous.

However, speaking at race end, Norris defended the strategy, admitting that he had helped make the call.

Asked when he first realised that McLaren had got it wrong, he said: "Probably just on the warm-up lap.

"I think the rain already stopped a little bit by then," he continued, "so, yeah, it was the wrong decision in hindsight.

"Obviously, it was good for a lap and kept me out of trouble," he added, "and so easily things could have happened behind, and I would have looked much better, but it was the wrong decision in the end.

"But I don't think through any bad decision-making," he insisted. "There were valid reasons for doing what we did. I'm happy we went for something and stuck to it. It doesn't work out sometimes, that's the way it is, so we take it on the chin, and we learn from it."

The Briton explained that his start was proof that the initial choice of tyre wasn't as dumb as it might have appeared.

"I had a lot more grip, as simple as that, honestly," he said. "It shows how slippery it was for them in the beginning, and I had a two-second gap after one lap, so it wasn't like it was stupid to be on that tyre. It was just drying out, and of course, when they got a bit of temperature into their tyres, it worked out for them.

"One percent more rain or a few little bits of drizzle here or there, and it really would have suited us a lot more. That happens sometimes and nothing really went our way today.

"I don't think our pace was going to be exceptional either way with the temperatures we had, and we ended with a DNF, so just a bit unlucky."

While Norris succumbed to a transmission issue, Piastri suffered his own problems. Having dropped to the back of the field following his early stop, while working his way up the through the field he clashed with Alex Albon, necessitating another stop and earning a 10s penalty for causing a collision.

"I felt like I was going into the corner pretty carefully and locked the front and then that was it," he said of the clash. "So, yeah, obviously not my finest moment and apologies to Alex and Williams because it was unnecessary damage for both of us. Especially for them. But, yeah, just one of those things."

Asked about his unease with the choice of starting tyre, he replied: "It was raining, and between the anthem and getting in the car it was pretty wet on the ground in all honesty. There was definitely no standing water, but you could clearly tell where it was wet and where it was dry.

"And getting to the grid was not easy on slicks," he added. "Getting to full throttle was pretty tough.

"Unfortunately for us it stopped raining as the formation lap started basically. It's just one of those things where if it rained a little bit more we would have looked like heroes, but it didn't, so we looked like idiots. So just one of those things."